


midnight snack

by Anonymous



Series: more works by this anon [7]
Category: ATEEZ (Band), ONEUS (Band)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Vampire Bites, Vampires, oneus x ateez
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:36:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28303938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: A minor disaster at the broadcasting studio may turn into a major one if Oneus can't get their closeted vampire fed.
Series: more works by this anon [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1978537
Comments: 6
Kudos: 67
Collections: Anonymous





	midnight snack

**Author's Note:**

  * For [youngjo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngjo/gifts).



> i dont understand electricity but just go with me on this

Hongjoong hadn’t been to a haunted house since his middle school had made an extremely low-budget attempt at one, raising money for charity. He vaguely remembered cardboard tunnels and ripped black garbage bags and fake cotton spider webs. While there was none of that debris filling the halls of the KBS building, the mood was the same. Loud. Dark. Filled with nervous, echoing voices, giggling or sighing or grumbling at one another. The continuous beating rain and thunder claps from outside just added to the mood.

Hongjoong was standing in the glass-walled lobby looking out to the main parking lot, where firetruck and utility company emergency vehicles strobed their lights. There was an electrical line down in the street, thanks to a driver who decided that rainwater churning up old oil slicks on the roads was no reason to slow down.

Now no one could leave, unless they wanted a painful and maybe fatal exchange with an electrified puddle.

The downed lines had taken most of the light inside the broadcasting studio with it. It had happened suddenly when recording was wrapping up- a flicker in the lights that suddenly plunged idols and staff alike into darkness, punctuated by shrill yelps of surprise. With an electric whir, here and there muted backup lights blinked into life to replace what they had lost- but the light from them was dim and sickly, almost casting more shadows on people’s faces than it illuminated.

  
That too, was what gave Hongjoong that Halloweenish, haunted house feeling. He had been frustrated at first. There were some songs he had been wanting to work on in the production studio at KQ. But he quickly realized the situation was out of his hands, and just decided to soak it up, instead. The mood, the weird atmosphere, the unusual break in the normal day-to-day schedule.   
  
Hongjoong reported back to their waiting room with no hopeful news to share.    
  


This round of promotions had them gladly sharing space with Oneus. The partitions that had divided the room into two clear parts earlier had been pushed aside as the two groups mingled easily with each other, chatting and trying to keep themselves entertained as time dragged on; one hour, then two, seemingly stretching on for eternity. Mingi had been first to wander over into Oneus’ space, almost immediately after the light left them. He was the one in their group who even had some of the members saved in his phone, Hwanwoong and Geonhak both. 

The only Oneus member who’d been off by himself this whole time was their maknae, tucked into the darkest corner of the waiting room, his dark head looking like a smudge of dark ink on an already dark parchment where the generator lights didn’t reach. Hongjoong could barely make out his eyes, looking resolutely away from everyone towards a blank wall. He didn't look happy. As Hongjoong had chatted or tried to snatch a few frustrating minutes of sleep or hunted around for a power bank to borrow for his laptop, he’d for some reason always been aware of the boy lurking there at the edge of his vision, unmoving.

But Hongjoong could understand his sullen mood. Even though there was nothing that could be done about it, he couldn't help but feel each additional second of waiting painfully peeling away, wasted. On top of that, he was starting to get hungry and he knew the others were, too. The KBS staff had been kind enough to make rounds to all the different dressing rooms, passing out some vending machine-esque snacks- but there was hardly enough to go around. 

For an idol who had spent the entire day practicing, dancing, and performing, on the go without stop, their bodies needed more. 

"I promise I'm buying everyone barbecue when we can finally leave," he had promised his team, feeling helpless and sorry for them, as if the storm was all his fault. 

"Okay but I already invited all them and their staff over, so do you think we can find a table for like, twenty-three people?" Mingi asked, sitting on a beaten up couch with Hwanwoong lounging half in his lap on one side and Geonhak sitting in a much more reasonable pose on the other. 

Hongjoong leveled a smoldering stare at him and didn't bother answering. 

Hwanwoong snickered at the joke, but Hongjoong didn’t miss the way he casually leaned forward and glanced over- to that dark corner where their sulky youngest sat alone.    
"Don't worry, Hongjoong-sii. We have to get home as soon as we can. You can treat us next time. Maybe the whole KBS staff could join, too."

Hongjoong smiled good-humoredly at the pretty dancer, who bobbed his leg back and forth so energetically that Mingi's shoulders wobbled from the movement. Hwanwoong glanced over in the corner again, bringing his hand to his mouth to nip at his knuckle. Mingi patted his leg, getting him to stop moving and directing his attention to whatever he was showing Geonhak on his phone. 

Hongjoong tracked down the whereabouts of his other members, one by one, stepping carefully through the dimness. WooSanHwa were passed out on the thin sleeping mats in the corner, piled with coats; Jongho sat in a makeup chair with his legs crossed, scrolling through his phone and taking the smallest possible bites of a piece of bread as if anticipating that it would be the only food he'd have for the next week.

Yeosang and Yunho were sitting on Oneus' side of the room with Seoho and Keonhee, having some conversation about the best takeout food in Seoul and how late they delivered, torturing each others' empty bellies with detailed food descriptions. 

With all his members accounted for, Hongjoong stumbled to his bag and withdrew a fruit jelly pouch drink he'd planned on eating/drinking later on, and slipped through the shadows to the corner where Oneus' maknae was brooding alone, looking like he hadn't budged a single centimeter this entire time. 

"Hey, Dongju-ssi, right? Sorry to bother you but, do you need something to eat? I had this extra snack I don't need."

He swiped his phone on to full brightness to bring some light to the corner of the room, to let the younger man see what he was offering.    
  
When his phone lit up the other idol’s face, he nearly gasped and dropped the phone to the floor.   
  
Dongju’s skin was so translucently pale he thought he could even see the cerulean veins threading through his cheeks. His pupils stared bright and empty, the color of bloody milk, similar but somehow worse than an overexposed photo.That had to have been a trick of the light, but the bruised darkness around his eyes and towards the inside of his lips wasn’t.   
  
Hongjoong’s mind was spinning trying to remember Oneus’ stage that day. Was this their concept? Wasn’t Halloween already passed? He so very much wished that the maknae’s appearance was deliberate, but the sinking feeling in his chest told him it wasn’t.    
  


Dongju was quick to hide his face soundlessly against his arm, though the movement was stiff and pained. But the image was already burned into Hongjoong’s conscious. 

A hand closed around his elbow, pulling him firmly back. 

"Hongjoong-ssi, he's not feeling well. I wouldn't want you to catch something."

Hongjoong turned away and found himself glancing up at Oneus' oldest, Youngjo. His mind was still going at a hundred calculating thoughts per second, but he managed to nod. "A-ah, yeah, I can see that. Sorry to bother him. I was just seeing if he needed anything to eat. I remembered I had this in my bag," he explained, showing Youngjo the snack. 

"That was nice of you. I had just stepped out myself to see if I could find him anything," Youngjo answered, taking a couple steps to put himself between Hongjoong and Dongju, so smoothly a less perceptive person may not even have noticed the protective stance. "Unfortunately, he's picky as hell. I'm sure you have one of those, too."

Hongjoong snorted, thinking of the sort of looks Yeosang had sometimes given to food that wasn't chicken. "Yeah, there are moments."

"You should save it for yourself. I don't want you going hungry."

  
_ ‘I don’t want you going hungry.’ -  _ Hongjoong tried to think of the last time someone had said that to him, and in such a deep, smoky voice, with a dark gaze so intense it felt like it was piercing you.   
  
He nodded. “Right. Thanks… take care of yourself, as well.”   
  
He withdrew and went right to Yeosang, tapping his shoulder and gesturing for him to follow.    
  
“Hyung, is anything happening yet?” Yunho cut what he was saying to Keonhee and Seoho short to look up at him with hopeful, puppy eyes, but Hongjoong shook his head. “Nothing yet, sadly. They don’t even really have an estimate at this point.”    
  
Keonhee and Seoho exchanged especially worried glances, fueling Hongjoong’s wild hunch.    
  
He pulled Yeosang away from everyone, mumbling ‘need your help with something’ to keep up appearances. He should have known that Yeosang wouldn’t buy it; not that it mattered.    
  
Yeosang crossed his arms and looked at Hongjoong, the weird light making him look ghostly. “So what is it you don’t want everyone hearing?” he asked.   
  
“Okay. This might sound crazy, but you’re an eighth vampire, right?”   
  
“You know I am,” Yeosang said, brows drawing down in cautious curiosity.   
  
“Right. Well. I think out of all of us you’re the only one who’s ever spent time with actual vampires, then.”   
  
“And?”   
  
“Dongju-ssi, over there… I went to see if he needed something to eat. And he looks… bad.”   
  
“Do you think everyone that looks bad is a vampire? I heard you tell Seonghwa-hyung he looks bad this morning when he was working out. Is  _ he _ a vampire?”   
  
Hongjoong sighed, levelling the same deadpan stare at him that he’d given Mingi earlier. “Can you take me seriously for once in your life? I’m the leader, here.”   
  
“Well  _ I _ didn’t vote for you.”   
  
Hongjoong aimed a punch at Yeosang’s shoulder.    
  


“Okay, don’t make me do that again.”   
  
He could tell from Yeosang’s thin, quivering smirk that he was holding back a laugh, and likely a retort about how Hongjoong had the strength of a fly or something like that.    
  
“I’m  _ serious _ , though. Haven’t you noticed anything? Or can you  _ feel _ or, I dunno,  _ smell _ anything? I don’t know how it works. You never talk about your vampiric powers very much.”   
  
“That’s because, as you well know, I’m practically human. That little eighth of blood unfortunately doesn’t do much for me. But fine. I’ll bite, so to speak. What did you see?”   
  
“It was like a zombie mixed with a vampire, but still handsome. Dark, almost black bruises on his mouth and eyes. Red eyes. Something is definitely not okay with him, Yeosang,” a shiver raced beneath his skin, remembering the otherworldly, empty red light in his eyes. “And no, I don’t mean ‘ _ not okay’ _ like it’s wrong that he’s a vampire. I maintain that they are a mistreated minority society has unfairly written off without even trying to understand- but that’s a whole other thing. But he looked uncomfortable, like he could barely move.”   
  
His description, questionable as it was, sobered Yeosang right up. “Uhh… okay, yeah. Actually that sounds like a vampire to be honest with you. When they start having blood withdrawal. But it’s impossible. He wouldn’t be allowed here.”   
  
“Really? Is it that hard to get one of those hemosapien cards or whatever they’re called? The one you have?”   
  
Yeosang rolled his eyes. “Again, when you’re practically human it’s  _ definitely  _ easy to get them. When you’re a vampire, it’s not. It’s impossible. You know that. Name one celebrity vampire-- celebrity  _ idol _ , I mean.”   
  
Hongjoong couldn’t.    
  
“Even if he is… so what?” Yeosang wanted to know.   
  
“I just… feel bad for them. I’m getting the feeling that if they can’t get home soon, there may be trouble.”   
  
“Ah…if he’s a vampire, he’s been keeping it quiet. There’s no way his company would have taken him in, otherwise. If something’s wrong and he ends up needing assistance, his cover will be blown.” Yeosang puzzled everything together. Of all of them, Hongjoong figured Yeosang would understand the most.    
  
Even just an eighth vampire, KQ made a point to keep Yeosang’s mixed blood off any official profiles and out of interviews, written or filmed. There were some factions out there who would go ballistic knowing there was just a single drop of vampire blood in a person. It wasn’t worth the potential fallout.   
  
And the discrimination against full vampires was still so bad that the restrictions on their access to public buildings and activities was extremely limited, leading to the loose ban on them as idols; why bother having a vampire idol as part of your group if they wouldn’t be allowed to perform anywhere? Not to mention the way staff and team members would likely pull out when they realized a vampire was among them. (Nevermind the statistics that vampire crime per total vampire population was no higher than humans’.)   
  
“I feel like we should try to help.” Hongjoong said.    
  
“That’s nice of you.”   
  
“If I needed help to take care of any of you, I would accept the offer in a second.”   
  
Yeosang slowly reached out and patted his shoulder. “You’re a good leader.” His mouth curled up at the corners. “That’s why  _ you _ can do the talking.”   
  
\--------------------   
  
Bringing up the whole hey-is-your-maknae-a-vampire? subject was easier said than done. For one, how would he just casually mention he suspects that one of the Oneus’ members might be a vampire, without being accusatory. How would they trust him enough to know his intentions were good?   
  
For  _ two, _ it wasn’t  _ just _ his members and their members in the waiting room. Their staff still wandered around or rested on free furniture, as impatient and bored as the rest of them. Some were even engaged in conversations the idols were having, making small talk here and there to pass the time.    
  
The conversation would have to be quiet, subtle, to the point.    
  
Hongjoong made his way back to Dongju. Youngjo was sitting beside him, mouth in a thin worried line, scrolling through text on his phone. One hand was on the maknae’s leg. Dongju was so still he wasn’t even sure he was breathing.    
  
Hongjoong sat beside Youngjo without a word. Youngjo sat up, straightening his shoulders and shifting, again keeping the youngest member behind him as much as he could.    
  
Hongjoong turned towards him, too, back to the room behind them, helping close them off in their dark little corner of the world.    
  
“Is he thirsty?” Hongjoong tried, glancing past him towards Dongju.   
  
Youngjo’s poker face was immaculate. “He’ll be alright. Once we get home.”   
  
“What if you don’t get home for a long time? What happens, then?”   
  
The older man’s eyes narrowed.   
  
“How much longer before it becomes an emergency?” Hongjoong pressed, his voice even lower as he leaned in, close enough to pick up the scent of Youngjo’s cologne. “One of my team’s family members is the same way. His great grandmother, I think.”   
  
“That’s practically nothing. Must be nice.”   
  
Hongjoong shrugged. “Seems like you guys have managed everything well. Until the world went all Final Destination on us, tonight.”   
  
Youngjo sighed, looking down at his hands. He rubbed at his collection of rings, turning them around his fingers, thumbing at the embellishments. He had nice hands.   
  
“It hasn’t been easy.”   
  
There. Trust. Hongjoong felt a pang in his chest, his sympathy for him growing stronger.    
  
“What do you need?”   
  
Dongju gave a faint moan and Youngjo turned, petting his hair. “Stay with us, Xionnie. It’s okay.”   
  
The ‘ _ stay with us’ _ sent a cold chill through Hongjoong. How bad off was the young vampire?   
  
“He needs blood, obviously,” Youngjo said, tucking the maknae’s coat around him more snugly and squeezing one of his hands, which was as pale as candle wax. “He doesn’t need to eat as often as us but even so, I should have made sure he had something before we left this morning.”   
  
Hongjoong bit at his bottom lip, wondering how to phrase this next part. He didn’t want to offend. “How… what… where does he normally get food from?”   
  
“It’s ordered from a hemosapien clinic. Pouches of it come in a cooler. Has to be a certain type. But everything’s at the dorm.”   
  
“Ah… so he can’t drink from you?”   
  
“If he could I would have fed him already,” the older replied, his gaze burning. “Any of us would. But we don’t have the right type. He needs  _ ‘B’ _ .”   
  
Hongjoong hoped Youngjo couldn’t see the shocked swallow go down his throat. The reality of what helping this other idol group could mean hit him in a surreal wave.   
  
“H-how would you feed him right now, if you could? What does he have to do?”   
  
Youngjo blinked. “Hongjoong-ssi…”   
  
Their conversation was halted by the sound of someone approaching. It was Yeosang, grabbing a chair near Hongjoong and moving it beside him, further closing Youngjo and Dongju off from the rest of the room.    
  
Youngjo didn’t continue his thought. Not until Hongjoong poked Yeosang’s cheek and said, “Say hi to our easy eighth-blood.”   
  
Yeosang batted his hand away. “All of a sudden you’re so obsessed with my heritage. I’m barely more a vampire than this chair.”   
  
Youngjo gave a twitch of a smile, but it faded instantly. His hand was still holding Dongju’s. Where the younger’s fingers had looked limp before, now they were gripping Youngjo’s hand tightly.    
  
A staff member’s voice swelled up nearby them as they passed through the room, talking on their phone. All three of them tensed up, only relaxing once they had passed.    
  
By then Keonhee and Seoho were joining them, piling in near Dongju.    
  
“Everything...okay?” Seoho asked, eying the Ateez members uneasily.    
  
“Yes. They were just telling me how Yeosang-ssi’s great grandmother is a vampire, also,” Youngjo explained, causing a double-take in Yeosang’s direction.   
  
“No kidding.”   
  
“Wow, actually I think I can  _ kinda _ see it.”   
  
“ _ Anyway,” _ Youngjo interrupted. “In return I was just explaining our predicament.”   
  
“I have ‘B’-type blood,” Hongjoong announced, deciding he might as well just get it out there.   
  
Silence from everyone else.    
  
“What are the risks?” he asked, voice strained but determined.   
  
“Rabies.”   
  
“Keonhee, shush.”   
  
“Getting dizzy, passing out. Especially since I’m sure you haven’t had much to eat, either. Bruising. Scabs where his teeth go in. It’ll leave small marks. They should go away before long, but there’s no guarantee they wouldn’t scar. But I would only let him take enough to last another few hours. I promise you.” He was holding Hongjoong’s gaze earnestly, unblinking. “I’m sorry, I would never let you do this, normally. But I’m afraid for him.”   
  
That resolved things for Hongjoong. He squared his narrow jaw. Nodded. “How should we do this?”   
  
\--------------------   
  
Hongjoong brought his members into the know, first. He didn’t want them going to look for him, only to come across what looked like some sort of vampire-on-human crime and then panicking. He told the sleepy WooSanHwa trio, all at once, shutting down their arguments as quickly as he could. He’d already decided he was doing this. It wasn’t up for debate. Seonghwa was the quietest (unsurprisingly, as the other two people were Choi San and Jung Wooyoung) but it took all of Hongjoong’s willpower to ignore the radiating disapproval from those big eyes.   
  
Then Yunho and Jongho, who unsurprisingly accepted it right away, with a supportive curiosity Hongjoong promised he would address in more detail when they got home..    
  
Youngjo actually started speaking with Mingi, Hwanwoong, and Geonhak before Hongjoong could, and by the time he got there Mingi was already on the lookout for him, his wide, worried eyes seeking confirmation of what he had just found out. Hwanwoong was holding his hand in a show of emotional and physical support at once. Hongjoong moved in close so he wouldn’t have to raise his voice and simply said: “Whatever Youngjo-ssi said, he’s right. So we just need everyone to play it cool, and if you see any staff member coming close you need to grab their attention, however you can. We’re gonna move some of these partitions to get more privacy, as if we want some peace and quiet to nap. Got it?”   
  
Hwanwoong and Geonhak nodded, and after a reassuring squeeze from Hwanwoong, Mingi nodded, too. “Aye aye, hyung.”   
  
\--------------------   
  
Hongjoong was starting to get nervous, although he didn’t show it on his face. And he wasn’t even nervous enough to tempt him to back out- his conviction to help the vulnerable group of idols wouldn’t have allowed that. But as his thoughts started to spin he couldn’t stop the cold prickling of nerves through his body.   
  
How much was it going to hurt?   
  
What kind of mark would it leave and how would he explain it, if it were seen?   
  
What if he had some rare side effect no one could account for? Were vampire allergies a thing?   
  
  
Maybe he wasn’t hiding his nerves as well as he thought, because there was suddenly a warm hand enclosing his wrist, tugging him aside.    
  
“Hey,” Youngjo said, after making sure he was standing steady against the wall where he’d brought him. “Let me show you something, okay? Hold my phone.”   
  
After glancing around to make sure no one was likely to come towards them, Youngjo started unbuttoning his shirt. Hongjoong stared, not sure where the idol was going with the display. But as he shrugged his shirt off his shoulders, Hongjoong saw- a corona of faded violet bruises with pink, healing scars at their center    
  
Youngjo turned his head aside in what came off as a very model-like gesture, graceful fingers indicating the map of healing trauma on his skin.    
  
“As you can see, I’ve done it before. Their teeth get sharp when they’re like this, so they don’t have to bite very hard. And even then, it doesn’t hurt as much as you’d think. I think something in their saliva numbs you. Unfortunately the bruising it leaves behind looks far worse than it actually is. I’ve never had a bad side effect beyond that.”   
  
It was as if the older idol had been reading his mind.    
  
But Hongjoong suddenly blinked, tilting his head. “But, Youngjo-ssi, I thought he couldn't feed from you…”   
  
Youngjo gave a bitter smile as he started re-buttoning his shirt. “He can’t. I was feeding someone else. And just call me hyung.”   
  
Just as Hongjoong was opening his mouth to ask for more information, he continued. “I shouldn’t be saying this, but let’s just say Dongju isn’t the only idol hiding who they really are. There’s a small alliance of us, and sometimes it means making sure other vampires in the alliance have enough to sustain them, even though you can’t even feed your own.”   
  
Hongjoong felt sorry for the regret in Youngjo’s face; felt it on a deep level. If he was in the same position, he would be so frustrated that he couldn’t take care of his own.    
  
“I promised him if he could just get through this performance we would get him home right away,” he sighed in exasperation, pushing his fingers through his hair. “Of course, that should have been more than three fucking hours ago. I should have let him eat. Even if we were late.”    
  
Hongjoong reached out and clasped Youngjo’s hand. “Hey. Don’t worry. I’ll feed him well. But I’m less nervous now, thanks to you. Let’s do this.”   
  
They snuck into the now partitioned-off corner that Geonhak and Hwanwoong helped close off. Xion was sitting where he had been before, white-faced and bundled with coats. Hongjoong wasn’t sure if it was to keep the little vampire warm or to try to hide him.    
  
He and Youngjo unburied him one coat at a time, setting them aside. It was concerning to see the continued lack of any sort of reaction. He looked at the older idol for his thoughts, but Youngjo had nothing to offer.    
  
“Doongdoongie?” Youngjo carefully tried to lift the maknae’s head up by the chin, and finally there was something of a reaction; a flicker of very long lashes as the vampire tried to focus his glazed red eyes. Hongjoong couldn’t stop looking at the way they glowed.    
  
The vampire gave a soft, plaintive moan that broke Hongjoong’s heart.    
  
“Hongjoong-ssi is going to let you have some food, okay?”   
  
“Ateez...hyung…?”   
  
It was hard to catch the soft mumbles, but Youngjo nodded. “Yeah, exactly. So wake up a bit for me, okay? Just enough to bite and then you’ll feel a lot better.”   
  
Youngjo moved aside and gestured to Hongjoong. “Here, he can’t move much, so, if you don’t mind… I think it would be easiest if you sort of straddle his lap.”   
  
Hongjoong nodded, heart pounding- and it had nothing to do with straddling another’s idol’s lap. “Yeah, sure, that makes sense.”   
  
Dongju felt like an ice sculpture dressed in human clothes. He barely managed to keep his shiver to himself as Youngjo helped get them settled. Even with the partitions up, Youngjo positioned himself to block off the view as much as he could. Hongjoong was actually relieved by his presence, standing so close.   
  
Without waiting to be told, he shrugged off his jacket and pulled off his shirt, careful of it catching on the earrings that studded the shell of his ear. Even having just his chest and stomach bare, he felt like he might as well be completely naked. Dongju was staring at him. He saw the vampire’s nostrils flair, and then he leaned in eagerly, so close Hongjoong couldn’t do anything but let his eyes fall shut. He nearly jumped when something brushed his back, but it was only Youngjo holding his jacket up around his back.    
  
“Relax, it will be alright.”   
  
The older man squeezed his shoulder as the vampire’s lips brushed his skin. Even Dongju’s  _ breath _ felt cold. He felt the hard edges of teeth slide against his skin. Not teeth, fangs. Where did he hide them?   
  
Then the bite, and all he could say was he was grateful for Youngjo holding his shoulder to keep him grounded.    
  
The thing the older didn’t warn him about is how your fight and flight instinct kicks in when a supernatural creature fastens his jaws around your neck, no matter how gently he does so. Hongjoong could feel the imminent power there, the way he  _ could  _ just snap his jaws shut the rest of the way if he wanted to. He went completely stiff at the feeling, his heart pounding harder than ever before.   
  
Dongju’s fangs were firmly in him. Like Youngjo said, that part hadn’t hurt as much as he thought. A firm pressure and a small pop and then a sharp slick burn as they sunk in. Then they withdrew altogether and were replaced by rough lips kissing and sucking the welling blood away, latching to the well of it like a baby kitten onto milk.    
  
Youngjo reached over and affectionately mussed the young vampire’s head. Then he stirred his fingers gently through Hongjoong’s hair, too. Hongjoong wasn’t sure what to think about that, but it did help him relax.    
  
“Doing good, both of you.”   
  
Hongjoong brought his hand up, gently clasping the back of the vampire’s neck. All he could think about was how Dongju’s mouth was starting to get warm, heating up the more he fed. With his teeth no longer buried deeper than Hongjoong cared to know, his feeding was almost cute. He was making soft satisfied sounds that almost tickled his skin. His breath was growing warm, too, heating his neck.    
  
“Dongju. You’ve had enough, now. There’s more at home.”   
  
Hongjoong froze when a bratty growl reverberated across his skin. That was the only pause in feeding, then Dongju fastened his lips to the bite and gave a particularly hard and moody suck, making Hongjoong moan in surprise.    
  
This kid couldn’t be serious…   
  
“D-Dongju-ah, you need to let go,” he tried.    
  
“ _ Dongju.” _ Youngjo’s low, raspy voice warned, taking on a tone not to be trifled with. 

  
Another petulant growl, and this time Hongjoong felt strong fingers digging into him at his waist and the back of his neck. All he could think about was unhelpful video clips of eagles hunting in slow motion, curling their talons into doomed rabbits. He really, really hoped he wasn’t doomed.   
  
His head swam. He couldn’t even turn it to look at Youngjo. All he could do was murmur “Hyung...please…”   
  
It happened fast. Youngjo slid his fingers between Dongju’s mouth and Hongjoong’s skin and with one arm hefted Hongjoong off his lap. Hongjoong stumbled and landed ass-first in the pile of coats they had moved away earlier.   
  
Dongju and Youngjo were two shadow blobs grappling with each other, intense but quiet.   
  
Hongjoong put a trembling hand up to the bite, trying to feel if he was still bleeding, but he couldn’t tell. The coats were warm. He didn’t know where his own shirt and jacket had gone.   
  
“Hongjoong? You okay? I went looking for a first aid kit, I’m sorry.”    
  
As someone settled close beside him, he recognized Seonghwa’s delicate scent. He wanted to thank him but he just felt so sleepy. He relaxed in the older’s arms instead, limp as Seonghwa tilted his head to be able to bandage the bite at his neck.   
  
“I’m okay… need my clothes.”   
  
“Here.” Youngjo’s voice joined them. Hongjoong’s eyes fluttered open and focused as much as it could on the dark haired figure.    
  
“Seonghwa-ssi, how is the bite?”   
  
“I… I  _ think  _ it’s okay? It’s not bleeding that much...” Hongjoong tried not to let the uncertainty in his voice concern him.   
  
“Ah, that’s good. I fucked up. I couldn’t get Dongju to stop as quickly as he should have. He was so hungry, I didn’t count on him not listening.”   
  
Hongjoong noted that Seonghwa didn’t say anything back to that, either angry or scared or just at a loss of words at how what had been a relatively normal day had turned into this.    
  
Hongjoong reached up, just enough to twirl a lock of Seonghwa’s hair around his finger, getting his attention. 

“Hey. It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere. S’just a vampire bite. How bad can it be?”

“Shhh, idiot.” Seonghwa covered his mouth with his hand, though his palm barely brushed his lips.

“That’s my line.”

Seongwa gave a long suffering sigh and suddenly was helping Hongjoong sit up, holding him against his side. 

Youungjo appeared with a water bottle and a handful of individually wrapped cherry gummy candies. “You should drink and eat these if you can. It should help you feel better.”

Seonghwa unwrapped the candies for him, and Youngjo cracked the cap open on the water. Hongjoong felt like an absurd king sitting on his throne of coats, with two devoted courtiers attending to him on either side. 

He decided to keep the observation to himself. Instead he sipped the cold water and nibbled sweet candies, trying to focus only on that. 

“How is Dongju-ssi?” He wondered aloud. 

  
“He’s okay now, thanks to you. That was the worst I’ve ever seen him, that’s why I didn’t anticipate… Anyway, I’m just so sorry. I don’t think I would have let you do it if I knew he was going to slip out of control. He’s always been so—“

“Hyung. Don’t worry. I’m gonna survive. And I think you’re doing an excellent job taking care of your vampire. Everyone has their bad days.”

He sagged back against Seonghwa, tired from talking. “‘M’just gonna nap a little. ‘Til it’s time to go.”

“Hongjoong. Hongjoong?”

Seonghwa wiggled the Hongjoong's shoulder. His long eyelashes fluttered but he didn’t move much more than that. Seonghwa wished he could have their leader’s bravery, his nonchalance. But all he felt right now was panic. Panic that he was trying not to show. 

“Hold on a moment. I’ll be right back,” Youngjo said, getting up in a hurry and returning to his group mates. Seonghwa would almost rather he didn’t. He couldn’t help but feel protective over Hongjoong and resentful towards the one who had decided to feed him to a vampire like a midnight snack.

When Youngjo returned with said vampire, he bristled even more. 

However the indolent youngest member looked sorry, even worried. He didn’t say anything, just moved placidly as Youngjo guided him closer to Hongjoong. “See what you can find out,” Youngjo ordered him.

Dongju nodded, kneeling and placing his thumb on the artery on Hongjoong’s neck, the opposite side of where he had bitten. He closed his eyes, even seemed to hold his breath for a few seconds. 

When he opened his eyes, he looked right at Seonghwa. His eyes looked normal; dark and pretty, nothing particularly vampiric about them at all. “He’s okay.” Dongju assured him. “I can somewhat sense the blood flow. Everything’s alright. I’m sorry. He might just be a little shocked....”

He stood again, looking up at Youngjo like a puppy waiting to be told he did good.

The eldest pet his hair affectionately, but he was looking at Seonghwa. “I know you have no reason to believe us.”

Seonghwa shook his head. “Hongjoong believed you…. so I’ll believe you, too.”

Youngjo smiled in a way that somehow reassured Seonghwa even more than his words could. Then he started to tug a thin chain out from the collar of his shirt. 

“Take this.”

Seonghwa held out his hand. A necklace of dark metal coiled up in his palm. The charm was a heart, with what looked like antlers curling over either side, but when Seonghwa peered closer he realized it wasn’t antlers but a chain frozen in the act of snapping apart. Hanging from the heart was a scarlet teardrop. Something about the swirled shade of scarlet gave him a nervous suspicion, but he kept his hand steady. 

“This means we owe you one. Seriously. If you ever need some sort of help that your company does not need to know about, whatever it is… bring this back to us. Or, you know. Just text. Mingi-ah has some of our numbers. But this can be your reminder.”

Seonghwa nodded, dumbfounded.

He didn’t know what sort of favor Youngjo was thinking of that they would have to keep secret from their company. But it couldn’t be a bad thing to be owed a favor right? Especially from a group so clever that they could hide a vampire from the whole world.

“We’ll give you space, now. I would say just let Hongjoong sleep for as long as he can. But let me know if anything concerning happens.”

_ Besides the fact that you left my Hong like a sucked-up Caprisun packet, you mean?  _ Seonghwa couldn’t help but think petulantly. It didn’t matter how suave or polite or charming the eldest of Oneus was, his priority was the one in his arms. 

Left alone, he covered Hongjoong and tried to make him more comfortable. 

Yunho popped his head into the closed-off space, with their other giant behind him, and possibly more trailing them. 

“Is he okay?” Yunho mouthed, reacting to Seonghwa’s shushing finger at his lips.

He nodded, feeling a burst of optimistic confidence. He had to be confident, for them.

\--------------------   
  


He couldn’t remember the last time he felt as much relief as he did when Hongjoong finally stirred. He gave a sleepy little moan, rubbing at his eyes like a baby.

Seonghwa went still, just looking down at his face, watching. 

“Hi,” Hongjoong groaned. 

“Hi. You alive?”

“Yeah. Any more candy?”

Seonghwa rustled around and unwrapped one for him.

“Thanks,” Hongjoong sat up slowly, shifting in his mound of coats. Seonghwa made room for him, but still leaned against his side. 

He reached in his pocket and withdrew the necklace from Youngjo.

“What’s this?”

“He said they owe us a favor. One we can’t rely on our company to solve.”

Hongjoong gave a slow, toothy smirk. “See? That was all my plan in the long run. Vampire alliance.”

He grabbed the water bottle and drank some of what was left. “We might need it soon, too. I’m starting to feel… strange. My teeth are digging at the inside of my cheeks. And that candy… it's like my body wants to reject it all of a sudden.”

Seonghwa’s gullibly-stunned face must have been hilarious, because Hongjoong slapped his shoulder and snickered to himself until Seonghwa shoved him far, far away. If Hongjoong was recovered enough to make vampire jokes and hit his shoulder that hard, he was just fine.

“Hyung, you okay?” Now that the leader was no longer resting, Yunho came bounding in, looking him over. “You  _ seem _ okay…”

Hongjoong nodded, taking another swig of water. “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

“So he was really a vampire?”

“I hope so. If not, that was an even weirder experience that I bargained for.”

“Can I see the bite?”

“No, I bandaged it already,” Seonghwa cautioned.

“Aw.”

“You can see it at home,” Hongjoong promised not just Yunho but San too, who peeked around his side.

The rest of the group slowly rejoined them, having not been sure at first if it was better to keep up the charade that everything was normal and not crowd together or if they would be okay to check up on their best leader, each of them having been preoccupied with a mix of shock, worry and suspicion. 

They ended up lounging around and sleeping or talking quietly together in their private corner, until a couple hours later when the true lights flickered on and it was announced the streets outside were safe to drive on.

  
  


The vampire encounter was very much a topic of popular discussion for the next couple weeks or so, then gradually faded. Unfortunately, with vampires labelled a  _ “sub-human” _ minority, an idol group would rarely cross paths with anything to do with vampires in their packed day-to-day schedules (excluding their glimpses of a certain undercover vampire in Oneus, of course).    
  
Hongjoong, after his direct brush with the supernatural, became more interested in their culture and lore (beyond what was taught in schools) and did some research, ordering a couple highly-rated books and even joining a newsletter for the Worldwide Vampire Allies.

While it might not ever come to be in his lifetime, he hoped there could be a time where people like Dongju could stand on stage without pretending to be something they weren’t. Sure, maybe at his lowest, most desperate point he could be dangerous- but what human didn’t have that same potential?

\--------------------   
  


Hongjoong would never have expected that by the time winter was thawing into an early spring, he would be scrabbling through his drawers, looking for a piece of jewelry he’d tucked away so carefully he had turned it into a secret even from himself. 

The others were watching nervously, Yeosang gripping the letter. The letter had come from a deep violet envelope. An envelope which Yeosang had woken to find poised on his chest, the paper still cold like it had just been outside. The only route directly outside was straight out his window into a multiple-story freefall to the pavement. 

‘ _ Those distant children sprung from the Kang coven long ago, return home with haste or you will be brought home by force.” _

The envelope had an old fashioned wax seal and everything, pressed with the stamp of a family crest. Yeosang, with a stricken expression, had recognized it from a couple family heirlooms around his home, items he’d never given a second thought about. 

Hongjoong exhaled in a noisy sigh of relief as his fingers caught the familiar black metal chain and pulled it free from the back of a drawer.

“Well… time to see if a vampire’s favor is worth anything.”

**Author's Note:**

> sjkdfhajsd im so sorry, i just wanted it to have an exciting ending, not make it seem like a cliffhanger!! >_<  
> happy christmas, anyway! <3


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